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I am a stay-at-home mother of two whose passion (besides my family) is books. I am an avid reader who enjoys all types of books, although I mainly read fiction. In addition to reading, I also love crocheting, knitting, cooking, running, and watching Penn State sports. Contact me: bookingmama@gmail.com
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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection
-- a regular weekend feature about
anything related to
children's books. This week, I'm going to share
with you an incredible pop-up book that's fun and educational!

Summary: See
the endangered Florida panther peering out from a cypress grove, an
alligator charging a white egret, a snarling grizzly bear protecting her
cubs, adventurers in a dory boat crashing through the rapids of the
Colorado River, all rising up from the pages of America's National Parks, A Pop-Up Book. This pop-up masterpiece will become a family favorite.

Many of our country's
biggest, highest and deepest wonders are found in the national park
system. Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park is our deepest lake.
Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park is the highest point in North
America, and the nation's lowest point is Badwater Basin in Death Valley
National Park. In California, Sequoia National Park has the world's
largest trees, giant sequoias. In nearby Yosemite National Park is the
highest waterfall in North America, Yosemite Falls, cascading 2,425 feet
into the valley. Our hope is the stunning pop-up scenes of America's National Parks, A Pop-Up Book will inspire you and your family to visit these special places. Throughout our
history, great Americans traveled into the national parks, and praised
their beauty and majesty. John James Audubon described his first visit
to the Everglades: "We observed great flocks of wading birds flying
overhead...in such numbers to actually block out the light from the
sun..." President Theodore Roosevelt said of the Grand Canyon, "The most
impressive piece of scenery I have ever looked at..." And John Muir,
founder of the Sierra Club, said of his favorite wilderness,
Yosemite National Park, "It is by far the grandest of all the special
temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter." The book captures the
beauty of these parks in amazing three-dimensional pop-up scenes.
Stories are told of heroic explorers, such as John Wesley Powell who in
1869 set off with nine companions in four wooden boats to run the
Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Newspapers across the country
reported on his trip into what mapmakers named The Great Unknown. One
newspaper reported on the planned trip, "whoever ventures into this
canyon will never come out alive," almost a true prediction as
Powell---with five crew members, in two boats---completed their 1,000
mile, ninety-nine-day expedition.

Springing to life are
wildflowers of Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Old Faithful geyser
in Yellowstone National Park (rises 13" above the page); a mountain
goat, the iconic mammal of Glacier National Park, perches on a high
cliff; and the grandest lodge in all of the national park system, The
Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park, invites you to enter.

The pop-up creations
of Bruce Foster are impressive, as is the truly American art style of
the 1930s WPA posters used by Dave Ember to magnificently illustrate
each pop-up spread.
Our national parks are in your heart. Now have them spring
to life in your home with America's National Parks, A Pop-Up Book. -- W.W. West, Inc.

AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS: A POP-UP BOOK with paper engineering by Bruce Foster, illustrations by Dave Ember, and concept and text by Don Compton is nothing short of amazing! Truly, this book, with its gorgeous pop-ups, took my breath away.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I have never really thought much about visiting the National Parks. That is, until recently. I visited the Grand Canyon when I was in middle school, and besides that, I haven't seen any of the "biggies." But over the past few years, I've have had family and friends visit Yellowstone, Yosemite, and others; and I've been amazed by their stories and photos. I am truly in awe that we have so much beauty in our country and I'm beginning to think a vacation out west might be fun for our family.

After reading (and playing with) AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS: A POP-UP BOOK, I think I want to visit these National Parks sooner rather than later. This book is unbelievable -- one that you have to experience -- just like the parks I guess! The book has full page pop-up spreads for The Everglades, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, The Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, and Yosemite. It also has text and illustrations on the Eastern National Parks and the Far West National Parks.

But that's just the beginning... this stunning book has little pop-up books that fold out for additional details about the parks as well as mini books included on each page. There are also featured quotations by famous people including John F. Kennedy, John James Audubon, Theodore Roosevelt, and John Muir.

When I saw that Bruce Foster was the pop-up creator, I knew that the book itself would be gorgeous; however, I admit I was surprised by how much information was included on each page. I couldn't get over how much I learned by reading this book, and that's one of the reasons that I love this book so much -- it teaches kids (and me!) about the National Parks in a very fun way!

Check out this video. I think it does a terrific job of capturing the beauty and complexity of the book. Some things just can't be expressed in words.

And here's another great reason to purchase AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS...
they are trying to raise $100,000 for the National Parks Conservation
Association. For each book that is sold, they will donate $8 to the
NPCA! If you purchase the Deluxe Limited Edition (only 1,200 copies made) for $105, then $80 is donated to the NPCA.

AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS: A POP-UP BOOK is truly spectacular! Highly recommended for kids of all ages!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this novel.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about
anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young
adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link
below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to
grab the little button too!

I was blown away by this book. We actually have made a little family goal to see as many National Parks as we can squeeze in before our kids refuse to vacation with us! Haha! Our favorite vacation of all time was Yosemite...the kids still talk about it.

And BTW, just have to follow up Jill's comment on her KK today. It is an amazing story, I almost shed a tear.